Death in the Afternoon Cocktail

Death in the Afternoon Cocktail Story

Ernest Hemingway’s greatest ode to cafe culture on the Left Bank of Paris is not found in a book, but in a champagne flute. Thought to have been created alongside the release of Hemingway's novel of the same name, the Death in the Afternoon first appears in print in a 1935 cocktail book titled So Red the Nose, or- Breath in the Afternoon. Hemingway intended the straightforward drink to be consumed successively - “drink three to five of these slowly” are the precise instructions. Adding anything other than absinthe or champagne drastically alters his original recipe, however, as with any drink featuring absinthe, diluting the absinthe with ice before adding champagne allows the botanical nuances of the spirit to shine. Hemingway even created a variation of his own drink, a tall glass of genever, lime, and bitters called a Death in the Gulf Stream. Like a bad inside joke, the drink was dedicated to the sea sickness suffered by his good friend, legendary cocktail recipe collector Charles H. Baker, during their seafaring trips together off the shores of Florida.